Detroit Officials See Belt-Tightening Moves As First Steps Along the Road to Recovery

The Detroit school board has embarked on the first stage of a
financial-recovery plan that requires drastic belt-tightening next year
and could result in layoffs for 1,600 employees, including up to 900
teachers.

In addition to the workforce reductions, the budget approved by the
board in late June calls for closing five schools and six area
administrative offices, eliminating varsity athletics, ending busing
for 9,500 students, and cutting spending on textbooks, adult education,
and school maintenance.

At the same time, the district appears on6the verge of undertaking a
major education-reform initiative that would grant new authority to
teachers and focus more of the available resources on preschool and
elementary-grade improvements.

Detroit teachers are currently considering a new contract whose
provisions have not yet been made public but which is believed to
embody a significant move toward teacher empowerment and school-based
management.

John W. Porter, who became the district's interim superintendent on
July 1, also is developing a comprehensive educational improvement plan
expected to be in place by the start of the coming school year.

The developments mark a significant turnaround from last fall, when
voters strongly expressed their dissatisfaction with the district by
rejecting a request for more money and electing four new, reform-minded
board members.

The austerity measures, which were required by state officials, have
provoked both the threat of a boycott from angry citizens and an
outpouring of new support by business leaders.

Many community members express confidence, however, that a
combination of factors--new leadership, the adoption of a balanced
budget and a long-term fiscal recovery plan, and indications that
substantial educational improvements are in the offing--mean that the
school system has weathered the worst of its crisis.

"Definitely, the most important thing happening is that there is a
growing sense in the community that the corner has been turned," said
Alan D. Hurwitz, education director of New Detroit Inc., a coalition of
urban leaders formed in the wake of rioting in the city that attracted
national attention in 1967.

"I can't say there has been a shift of public confidence in the
schools from negative to positive," Mr. Hurwitz added, "but there has
been a shift from pessimistic to optimistic."

Response to Deficit

Both community leaders and state officials insisted throughout much
of last year that the Detroit school board adopt a financial-recovery
plan and begin to reduce a deficit that has grown over several years to
more than 20 percent of the district's annual operating budget.

Observers attribute the deficit to a combination of
less-than-adequate increases in state aid and the Detroit board's
inefficient use of resources, particularly its unwillingness to close
facilities while student enrollments were dropping by a third.

But the $50 million in cuts adopted by the board in June provoked
outrage in many sectors. Several board members called for tighter
security at board meetings after repeated disturbances, and a new group
called Detroit United for Education has called for a boycott of classes
this fall.

Detroit United argues that the board has misplaced its priorities
and made cuts in the wrong places. It is said to be contemplating a
lawsuit to block the current plan.

Others have responded to the impending budget crunch with
fundraising efforts. A group led by Dave Bing, a former star on the
Detroit Pistons basketball team and owner of Bing Steel Inc., last week
donated $600,000 to the district to restore the fall sports program.
The Pistons' Isaiah Thomas, an all-star member of this year's
championship team, has pledged to the schools the proceeds from an
all-star game to be played in Detroit on Aug. 11.

A separate fundraising drive intended to restore both sports and
music programs for the year was cancelled last week by the Detroit Auto
Dealers Association after district officials expressed concern that it
might jeopardize a proposed tax hike.

Levy Request, State Action

Providing further good news, the Michigan legislature appeared
poised last week to approve a budget that would grant the district
between $5 million and $8 million more than anticipated.

District officials have indicated they would use the money to
continue a six-period high-school day, instead of cutting it to five
periods as planned. The move would save almost 200 teaching jobs.

The board has also pledged to restore some $28 million in proposed
cuts, including jobs for 455 custodians and several hundred teachers,
if voters approve a 5 mill property-tax hike that board members voted
last month to place on the Sept. 12 ballot.

The board's agreement to seek the levy request broke a logjam in
talks with the Detroit Federation of Teachers, and a tentative accord
was reached at 1:30 A.M. the following morning.

The one-year agreement, which is being considered by the union's
membership this week, includes a 6 percent salary increase

Under the pact, up to 40 schools will be allowed to form committees
of teachers, parents, and community members to consider policy and
spending priorities, according to Carol C. Thomas, executive vice
president of the dft

The contract also includes implementation of a mentor-teacher
program, additional opportunities for teachers to participate in such
activities as curriculum planning and textbook selection, and an
agreement to create pilot programs to explore instructional
experiments, according to Ms. Thomas.

The board and the union did not, however, reach agreement on a
retroactive pay increase for the past school year, when the board was
unable to pay an agreed-upon 7 percent increase in teachers' salaries.
The matter is currently in binding arbitration.

If the ballot measure fails, teachers would receive no raise next
year and the planned layoffs would be triggered.

Deficit-Reduction Bonds

On the same ballot, voters will be asked to approve the issuance of
$160 million in bonds to reduce the district's accumulated operating
deficit. That would require an additional 1.5 mill increase in the
property tax.

"If those [actions] aren't approved, there are unquestionably going
to be reductions in the instructional program, and that isn't a climate
in which significant improvements could be made," said Mr. Hurwitz of
New Detroit Inc.

The major community and business groups that opposed last fall's
larger levy request indicated then that they could support additional
money for the district only after improvements in financial management
and educational offerings. Several have already announced their support
for the new request.

And a poll commissioned this spring by New Detroit showed a similar
softening of opposition to tax hikes if prospects for school
improvement were better. It found that 53 percent of voters opposed the
8 mill increase being proposed then.

But when asked if they would support a levy request if comprehensive
educational-improvement and fiscal-stability plans were in place, "an
astounding 82 percent of negative respondents said they would change
their vote," Mr. Hurwitz said.

Failure of the bond measure would also trigger an agreement be8tween
the state and the Detroit board under which the state could order the
district's superintendent to make mandatory budget cuts.

Cuts If No Bonds

The agreement was reached this spring when the district requested a
state loan to meet its payroll, but the state has agreed to defer
action on it until after the results of the election are known,
according to Calvin C. Cupidore, finance officer for the Michigan
Department of Education.

"We would hope that Sept. 12th would bring good news all around," he
said.

In addition to the restored cuts and the salary increases, the
5-mill levy would provide between $7 million and $9 million to fund Mr.
Porter's school-improvement plan.

Details of the plan were difficult to obtain last week. But they are
known to include school-based management, public release of school
performance data, and interventions in schools that do not meet
prescribed goals.

Mr. Porter was unavailable for comment last week.

The school board, meanwhile, appears to observers to have reduced
the internal conflicts that delayed several important decisions last
year, including the hiring of Mr. Porter, and that became the focus of
much public criticism.

The board demonstrated unusual unanimity in approving the levy and
bond requests last month, these sources said. And its members agreed to
attend a two-day workshop hosted by New Detroit on communications
skills and conflict resolution scheduled to take place last
weekend.

Vol. 08, Issue 40

Notice: We recently upgraded our comments. (Learn more here.) If you are logged in as a subscriber or registered user and already have a Display Name on edweek.org, you can post comments. If you do not already have a Display Name, please create one here.

Ground Rules for Posting
We encourage lively debate, but please be respectful of others. Profanity and personal attacks are prohibited. By commenting, you are agreeing to abide by our user agreement.
All comments are public.